Monthly Archives: September 2013

We’ve recently had folks from the early days of Hulu hit their six year anniversaries. And as expected for any company as it matures, we’ve had some important contributors make the difficult decision to head off to exciting new chapters of their lives beyond Hulu. That’s part of the natural evolution and maturation process for any company, and I’m proud to see Hulu alums make their mark in other great companies, despite being very sorry to see them go.

It’s with that mix of emotions today that I share one such departure with you: Jean-Paul (JP) Colaco (“our Chief Canadian Officer”) has decided to move on from Hulu later in October and pursue one of a few new startup opportunities he has in front of him.

Six years ago, JP Colaco and I both got the call to come join a new start-up that was setting out to change the way people find and watch their favorite TV shows. It wasn’t called Hulu yet and it was a pretty risky opportunity . . . both from our perspectives as well as that of the press, who soon dubbed it “ClownCo”. It was a tricky joint venture, funded by competitors in the broadcast world, and we all realized that you had to be a little bit crazy to sign on for this adventure. But despite the risks, we couldn’t help ourselves. The chance to help change how viewers watched TV was just too great to pass up, as was the opportunity to build a great place to work with the strong culture needed to thread all the needles required to make Hulu a success. I remember JP in those early days meeting my then 3 year old son, Max, and demonstrating what a fun place Hulu was to work by holding him upside down by his ankles. Max got the message and believed it, as did the many incredibly talented team members that joined us in the beginning and throughout the years that followed. And for this great team, JP has served as a tremendous role model in driving truly world class execution but never letting anyone forget how important it is to have a lot of fun along the way.

JP is a Hulu builder through and through. As one of the original team members from the Fall of 2007, JP helped lay the foundation upon which everything since then has been built. He drove much of the innovation in advertising that Hulu has become known for – including Ad Swap, Ad Selector, and 100% Completion Rate. Most importantly, JP has hired and mentored one of the most talented ad sales teams in the business. The Hulu advertising team has driven revenue growth that is is truly unparalleled. And in a testament to JP’s leadership, his team has the bench strength to carry on and continue to knock it out of the park without missing a beat. That’s one of the highest accolades any leader can receive, and JP has built a fantastic team that will do exactly that.

Though we’re very sorry to lose him, JP will leave us with the company firing on all cylinders in terms of outputs. 2013 so far has been the strongest year yet for Hulu in terms of business results, including revenue and Hulu Plus subscriber growth. We’re on track for revenue in the neighborhood of a billion dollars this year and subscriber growth remains strong. These great results are allowing us to continue to add great talent—we’ve added more than 90 new hires in the past 90 days. That’s an incredible rate of growth, especially when we consider how high our bar is for talent. I couldn’t be more proud of all of you Hulugans out there for staying so focused this year and continuing to deliver for our content partners, advertisers, and most of all, our loyal viewers who’ve made us such a big part of their lives.

JP has played a big role in allowing us to deliver these impressive results, and I’m very proud of what he’s accomplished here. JP and I are working through the transition plan, but in the meantime, please join me in thanking him for all his contributions and wish him the best in all he does in the future.